By knowing the reasons of enrollment,I can prepare and mold cirriculum toward their needs.
When students are unclear about why there are in our program, I try to use it as an opportunity to evangelize about our profession and to have them be my model for demonstrations. It changes my approach. If I sense there's a wide swath of students from motivated career-changers and 13th graders who just want to do SOMEthing, it is that much more important to know why they are taking my class. Too many 13th graders can drag the energy of the classroom down for sure. They haven't had enough crummy jobs to realize the importance of getting it right early on with a winning attitude.
I totally agree with this! As a instructor it's always good to remind them why they are doing what they are doing.
By finding out why my students are in the program, I can create discussions and on-hands activities that are more specific to their particular interest in a genre of music. I teach in an audio department. When I have an idea as to which area of the industry they look to move forward in, I can then help them focus on the skills they will need for that area. For example, the skill set for being an Engineer is different that being a Manager.
they want to move ahead, with another career
Some students are not always honest with why they are enrolled in school. It does help when they are true to you the instructor as it does help you to gain a better understanding of the person you are dealing with.
By knowing why a student enrolled, it will help me in providing more specific encouragement and support for their successful completion of the course, and perhaps change a potentially negative experience into a positive one.
It helps you to know what your students expect from the course. Once you have given them the course objectives, they know what you are striving to obtain. Once they tell you why they are there, you can gear your instruction to meet their individual needs. Steve
It better helps you as an instructor, to better understand your students, therefore, better helping them to transition through your class.
Absolutely true, but in my limited experience I've seen a variety of of levels of interest within each class. I don't know if you can legitimately refer to "interest and knowledge level of the class" as much as the individual interests of the different students. Advanced classes are likely to be more homogenous in interest level and skills, but in foundational courses (such as what I teach), interest levels and motivations are all over the ballpark.
Hi Julie,
This is a good point in relation to knowing your students. By knowing more about them you can customize your delivery to target their learning preferences.
Gary
It helps me because I know that that students heart is where they want to be in five years from now. This helps me to strive harder to educate them and to give them the tools that they need to be be a successful in their career field of choice.
This will help b/c it will tell me as the instructor what knowledge is valuable to my students. It will also help me to understand the motivating factors for each student within the class and tweak my approach to them as I teach to individual challenges.
Hi Shari,
You make a good point about electives. Having never taught an elective course I am always faced with a new class of students that for the most part don't want to be there. Having students that have elected to take your course must be enjoyable because you can plan your instruction in a way that validates their choice of taking the course.
Gary
Knowing why students enrolled is the cornerstone that holds their goals and objectives together. As a result, instructors can use that as motivation for the students especially in those moments of weariness or self-doubt.
Todd
Actually, I have taught so many electives that this honestly has no effect on my insturction. In electives, students choose the class for various reasons, the one I have heard most frequently being, "It sounded interesting." I try to make all of my courses interesting, either electives or required.
To help you in knowing thier career goals
Hello Barbara,
I agree, if you show a student that you value them as people and are interested in seeing them succeed not only in your class, but in other areas (socially, personally, etc.) it can go a long way in motivating them. A little bit of kindness can have such a huge impact in someone else's life.
If you know why a given student enrolled in your program you are better equipped to meet his or her uique needs. While you might assume that all the students in your class are there only to become proficient in the skills being taught in that class, some of the students might also be there in order to meet new people, or because they recently lost their job. If you know that a student is somewhat isolated but is interested in making friends, you can involve them in group activities. If they recently lost a job, you can be sensitive to feelings of loss of self-esteem and identity and be sure to acknowledge their efforts in the class. If you know their career goals, you can better steer them towards activities that will help them achieve those goals.
If you know why a given student enrolled in your program you are better equipped to meet his or her uique needs. While you might assume that all the students in your class are there only to become proficient in the skills being taught in that class, some of the students might also be there in order to meet new people, or because they recently lost their job. If you know that a student is somewhat isolated but is interested in making friends, you can involve them in group activities. If they recently lost a job, you can be sensitive to feelings of loss of self-esteem and identity and be sure to acknowledge their efforts in the class. If you know their career goals, you can better steer them towards activities that will help them achieve those goals.
